While the strength of most metallic and ceramic based materials derives from the theoretical bonding strengths between their component molecules and crystallite surfaces, it is significantly limited by flaws in their crystal or glass-like structures. These flaws are usually inherent in the raw materials themselves or developed during fabrication and are often expanded due to exposure to environmental stresses.
The emerging field of nanotechnology has made the limitations of traditional materials more critical. The ability to design and produce very small structures (i.e. of nanometer dimensions) that can serve complex functions depends upon the use of appropriate materials that can be manipulated in predictable and reproducible ways, and that have the properties required for each novel application.
Biological systems serve as a paradigm for sophisticated nanostructures. Living cells fabricate proteins and combine them into structures that are perfectly formed and can resist damage in their normal environment. In some cases, intricate structures are created by a process of self-assembly, the instructions for which are built into the component polypeptides. Finally, proteins are subject to proofreading processes that insure a high degree of quality control.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for methods and compositions that exploit these unique features of proteins to form constituents of synthetic nanostructures. The need is to design materials whose properties can be tailored to suit the particular requirements of nanometer-scale technology. Moreover, since the subunits of most macrostructural materials, ceramics, metals, fibers, etc., are based on the bonding of nanostructural subunits, the fabrication of appropriate subunits without flaws and of exact dimensions and uniformity should improve the strength and consistency of the macrostructures because the surfaces are more regular and can interact more closely over an extended area than larger, more heterogeneous material.